[Side story] Chasing butterflies (14)
let’s go back
There is a man who is probably searching for himself somewhere in a distant world.
Now he has drifted away to a distant world, but he has to follow the man’s traces again and return to the world he came from.
When I opened my eyes, what was spread out was the flow of a huge world stretching out in dozens and hundreds of directions.
The numerous worlds of possibilities he had observed with Ed earlier were in the midst of branching out into the future.
As if swimming in outer space, the whole body was filled with a sense of floating.
In the flow of this world that spreads out to fill the world, Lucy had to find the traces of Ed.
Somewhere, Ed will also be constantly searching for traces of Lucy.
Worrying about Lucy who has fallen away, she constantly floats here and there.
He must be trying to get Lucy back before the branch of this world spreads out beyond the point of return.
I can’t keep Ed waiting any longer.
There was a limit to the magical power handed over from the other world, but if you grit your teeth and work hard, you should be able to return to the flow of the original world.
I grit my teeth and raise my mana. Focus the senses of your whole body on the flow of magical power spreading all over the world.
Somewhere there, there must be Ed’s magic.
It’s here. The place you will return to is right here. It will become a beacon that informs, and it is certain that Lucy will continue to inform the direction to go.
If you don’t catch the trace properly, you will end up drifting somewhere in the flow of this vast world again.
You can go to the future or you can go to the past.
You may fall into the great ocean, or you may fall in the middle of a city you have never seen before.
Amidst all the variables, you have to grit your teeth and concentrate and observe the signals Ed is sending.
Like that… the moment you focus on the flow of magic with your teeth clenched for a while… I feel the familiar energy of magic from one of the flows of that distant world.
The magical energy she has never forgotten in her entire life feels like warm sunlight to Lucy.
Even from such a distance, you can notice it at once. Lucy had no time to delay.
Raises the mana of the whole body and jumps between worlds. Based on the magic that emanates from Ed Rosteeler, he jumps over and over again the world of countless possibilities.
My whole body hurts like screaming, but I still have a long way to go.
If you want to reach the place where you can see Ed’s magic far away, you have to keep going. He does not stop swimming even as he feels the mana that has been running through his whole body being cut into chunks.
That’s how Lucy pushed her body into the current of the world where magic power was gushing out.
But still.
It was possible to enter the same flow, but the lines of space and time are still far apart.
You have to keep going further. If you want to advance to Ed’s time zone, you must gather your mana to the bottom and go farther.
But the body screams.
The mana that has reached its limit says that it cannot go any further.
Almost there.
I even succeeded in coming over to the flow of the same world, but I couldn’t be frustrated right in front of my nose.
“Ka, haha.”
He vomited a single stream of blood.
I had never put a load on my body like this since I was dealing with the great sage, Sylvania.
But it was not the time to think about the body. Even if they succeeded in coming into the flow of the same world, what meaning would it have if they were not living in the same time?
Lucy’s body loses strength.
A nostalgic flow of magical power. Even though it can be reached by going a little further, there is no strength left to go any further.
Little by little… sinking into the flow of the world… Lucy closes her eyes tightly.
– Kwakwang, bang!
There was the sound of something like a wooden shelf collapsing.
An underground space where sunlight does not enter. I couldn’t figure out exactly where.
The place I reached by jumping between worlds felt somehow familiar.
– Whoop!
“Huh, huh…”
Lucy rolled her tiny body on the floor and managed to pull herself together.
It was like a warehouse full of all sorts of research materials and magical engineering supplies. Lucy tried to get her battered body up, but he wouldn’t listen.
“Ugh, uh, uh…”
In the end, he couldn’t reach the place where Ed Rosteiler’s magic was emanating.
Although he returned to the world he lives in, he drifted to a completely different place in time and space.
I don’t even know what country it is, or even a different continent.
I don’t know how much the time is out of sync. Whether it will be 10 years or 100 years… No one can predict.
Because there were only a few historically few people who could use this level of Aspect Magic.
“Uh.. Ugh…”
Lucy felt her tears welling up.
I miss Ed Rosteyler. With that mind alone, he led his broken body and gnawed his teeth, but it was not enough.
I don’t know when I’ll see him again.
The time difference will not be a matter of hours or days. It will be out of sync for at least a few decades. For a movement of this magnitude, that is the minimum.
There is no magical power to return to, and even if it recovers, it will take another year to study time and timeless Aspect Magic.
At least for a few years, worst of all, until he dies, you’ll never see Ed Rosteeler again.
That fact… I was about to shed tears.
“…..It appears gorgeously.”
That was the moment.
A familiar voice penetrated Lucy’s ears. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard a voice… but I’ve never forgotten it.
“I thought it would show up around this time, but I didn’t think it would be like this.”
I remember the hand full of wrinkles always stroking Lucy.
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A cramped basement full of old study books and a workbench.
I don’t know why, but the great wizard Glockt, who was covered in ashes, was shaking his clothes with a dejected smile.
Only then do you realize why this basement is familiar.
This was… a secret lab in the basement of Glockt’s cabin.
Before jumping over the world, it was the same place where he and Jellan and Ed investigated the interior.
*
Lucy tried to say something, but nothing came out of her mouth.
However, the image of Glockt shaking off the ashes covered all over his body as if he was embarrassed remained in his memory.
– ‘Thanks to you, I woke up. However, I clearly told you to be careful when practicing magic in the cabin…’
– ‘I’ll have to find something to shake off the ashes.’
It was a memory of the day I gave Lucy a hat as a gift.
I accidentally overturned the container for the ashes coming out of the stove, and went in to shake the ashes with a duster in the basement.
It was the same day that Glockt, who hadn’t come out of the basement for a while, comforted Lucy by putting a hat on her.
“I, I…”
“You don’t have much time. It’s okay if you don’t have to explain it one by one.”
With that gruff voice in his memories, the teacher who was like Lucy’s father warmly brushed Lucy’s hair.
“I must have been through so many things that it is hard to explain. Unlike my teacher, Sylvania-sama, I can only read a fragmentary future… I can’t accurately see what kind of life you would have lived.”
In the first place, only the great sage, Sylvania, can observe the flow and possibilities of all worlds.
However, Glockt can imitate even similarly and observe if it is a fragment of the future.
That’s why Glockt knew that around this time, Lucy, who was trying to jump over the world, would reach this place adrift.
It was not possible to specify the exact place and time, but this is why we were able to prepare to some extent.
“Still, I believe that if it were you, you would have lived a life of value.”
Glockt whispered warmly.
Lucy held back the tears that were about to flow.
“Grandpa… I…”
“Yes, there must be a place to return to. The possibilities of the world will continue to differentiate and advance even at this moment. If we don’t hurry, things will get more complicated.”
Having said that, Glockt took out a magical engineering tool in the form of a giant crystal ball in the center of the lab.
I knew that Lucy would one day drift here, so I was able to make it in advance.
‘Timeline Adjuster’
A magical engineering item that was found while investigating Glockt’s hut by Gellan and Ed and had traces of being used only once.
– ‘The archmage I knew, Glockt, was a person who hated breaking taboos. He was a wizard who always had respect for magic and respected the providence and destiny of the world.’
– ‘Lucy Meyril. It may come as a bit of a shock to you, but… Archmage Glockt actually… seems to have studied taboos in his later years.’
– ‘Looking at the circumstances, the former Glockt Elderbane… once adjusted the line of time. That is, he broke a taboo and tried time travel’
It felt like pieces of an empty puzzle were being put together.
The reason why the great wizard Glockt Elderbane, who had lived his whole life with only respect for magic, broke the taboo and conducted research on time travel at the very end.
Even the reason why I had to break the belief that I had kept for my whole life just once at the last moment.
“Grandpa… This is…”
“There is no time for further delay. I’ll do the operation, so you just have to feel the magic.”
Lucy wiped her eyes with her rags and tightened her lower lip.
“Grandpa…”
While Glockt gathered mana in his fingertips, Lucy looked up and saw the stairs going up to the ground.
Beyond the tightly closed wooden door, I wonder if I’m intimidated by knocking over a barrel full of ashes.
Life is full of futility, and he lived his life as if it were flowing without finding any meaning in his life.
Because he knows better than anyone what he will look like, the Glockt in front of him that he took in and raised himself looks even more amazing.
This Glockt’s cabin was Lucy’s cradle.
Until the empty girl, who would not be surprised at the end of her life, realized the meaning of life, the old wizard constantly pulled her by the arm.
It is a life that has received a lot.
However, one day one has to kick out the cradle.
If the day comes when I stand up on my own two feet, the cradle I was lying on will be nothing more than a load.
Life is a long journey.
If you are going to embark on a long journey, you must leave what you want to leave behind.
This is because humans are creatures who live looking forward, not backward.
“Hey, grandpa.”
Lucy quietly called out to Glockt. Just singing Glockt after a long time seems to make the tip of my nose frown even more.
He takes a small breath, smiles softly and says.
“It’s a pity, but… I am no longer the most precious person in the world.”
Glockt, who was activating the magic orb, heard those words, opened his eyes wide for a moment, and then smiled at the same time.
“That’s really… good news while listening.”
Glockt does not know exactly what kind of life Lucy would have lived.
The journey of life is full of unpredictability.
If you bump into this and roll over and hold on somehow…
That girl who knew nothing but emptiness could smile softly like that.
A kid who only had one precious person, a teacher, has a lot of cherished ties.
You shouldn’t just walk in place thinking that Glockt is the most important person forever.
What is past is past.
What to leave, what to leave.
Perhaps the fact that Lucy, who seemed uneasy, was steadily following the path of her life, made Glockt happy more than anything else.
Stretching out those tiny wrinkles, the old wizard smiled.
Lucy took off the witch hat that Glockt had given her as a gift and shoved it into Glockt’s arms.
“I will leave this.”
Glockt accepted the hat and asked with puzzled eyes.
“What is this hat?”
Upon hearing those words, Lucy widened her eyes, then smiled again as if she had collapsed.
“It is the thing I cherish the most. ….The reason is a secret.”
At those words, Glockt nodded and quietly put the hat into his bosom.
Glockt’s magical engineering supplies start to emit magic again.
As the world was enveloped in a halo of light, a warm aura gently embraced Lucy.
Before leaving, Glockt spoke with his eyes gently closed.
“Thank you, Lucy.”
What are you thankful for? From Lucy’s point of view, it was a lot of what she received.
However, the words that followed completely caught Lucy off guard.
“It was an eventful life… but in the end, you were the meaning of my life.”
“…”
“Thank you for being the meaning of my life.”
In the pouring light, I tried to smile at least for the last time, but…
Lucy couldn’t help but shed tears.
*
In a world where there was only darkness, light shines.
When I open my eyes, the place has not changed. It’s still Glockt’s cabin.
However, no matter how much time had passed, the research facility, which had been in good shape, was completely worn out. The signs of the times are clearly visible.
A ray of light streams down from the stairs leading to the ground.
The wooden door, which had been firmly closed, is now open at an angle.
The girl stands up with her battered body. While staggering, it steadily runs toward the ground.
When you go out the door, a rather familiar view of the cabin comes into view.
As it is, I cross the room and spurt through the front door of the cabin.
The noon sun is dazzling.
You can see Ed, who is wandering in search of Lucy, radiating magical energy with the observer in front of him.
Behind him, Zelan, who is replenishing his mana with an uneasy face, and his secretary, Wilhelm, are also visible.
Lucy runs out and falls into Ed’s arms.
Surprised, Ed jumped backwards, but climbed on top of him, buried his head in Ed’s chest, and shook his head several times, rubbing his cheek.
Even while shedding tears, Lucy did not loosen her grip on Ed.
Just hugging Ed, Lucy cried and cried endlessly.
– Tadak, tadak
The sound of wood burning in the fireplace.
Every time the light of the warm fireplace flame flickered, the shadows inside the cabin were also shaking their bodies.
The gray-haired girl sitting in front of him was covered in ashes all over her body.
The old wizard, coming out of the basement, takes out a witch’s hat from his bosom and puts it on the girl’s head.
Then, as he rubbed his shoulders, the old wizard smiled kindly.
– ‘It would be better to give it to you now.’
– ‘This…’
– ‘Careful. One day, this hat will become your most prized possession.’
– ‘That’s why…’
Life is an unpredictable law.
Even the girl who thought she would live a life full of emptiness could one day come to celebrate the value of life.
– ‘…Well, you’ll find out about that someday.’
Such was the beauty of life.
